There have been many gutter cleaning devices developed in the past. Various hand held devices have been used to manually clean a gutter from debris such as leaves, twigs or other items that fall into the gutter from the roof of a building, such as a home or commercial building. What is well known is various manual rakes and other similar type devices. These required climbing a ladder, sliding the rake down the gutter and working with the rake to clear the gutter from debris. The use of the rake is dangerous for a person on the ladder since he is likely to fall from the ladder due to the maneuvering he has to perform to clear the gutter of debris.
Another manually used device to clean a gutter from debris is a hand held wand. The wand has an elongated pole with a J curve at the top of the pole for forcing water down into the gutter. The wand is attached to a garden hose to supply water flush the gutter. In order to use this wand one must manually run it along the gutter to clear it from the debris located therein. There have been many variations of this hand held wand. The designs mainly vary in the J curve and spray nozzle. The disadvantage of these wand designs is that it has to be used manually and when it is used the debris will fall upon the person using the wand. It is also difficult and tiresome for a home owner or commercial service provider to stand and run the wand along the gutter to clear it from debris.
There has also been various spray systems used in the past to clear gutters. These systems generally comprised of piping or tubes that have orifices therein or nozzles attached thereto. Water is sprayed into the gutter to flush debris from the gutter. The disadvantage of these system is that they were manually operated and not automatic such that one would flush the accumulated debris from the gutter towards the downspout just as in rain would do. This would cause the debris to clog either the opening of the downspout at the junction of the gutter and downspout or the downspout itself. This was due again to an operator turning the system on whenever he thought it was needed and not at regular intervals. The accumulated debris was significant due to the long time intervals between the system being turned on manually.
Other devices have also been used in an effort to keep the debris from clogging the down spout of a gutter. These devices include screens, having various shapes and sizes placed at the junction of the gutter and the down spout. These only provide a temporary solution to prevent the debris from clogging the opening of the downspout or the down spout itself. These screens also have to be cleaned from time to time manually or else the debris will accumulate against the screen resulting in clogging of the down spout and prevent the rain water in the gutter from flowing into the down spout from the gutter. Again to keep the screen clear one would have to climb a ladder or get on the roof, which as stated above is dangerous.
All the above past devices fall short of providing a convenient system that automatically maintains the gutters of a residence or commercial building or any drainage channel clear of debris so as not to prevent water from flowing down and out of the gutter or channel.